Thief-takers and rule-breakers: why television cop shows can never tell the "truth" about policing

Colbran, Marianne (2023) Thief-takers and rule-breakers: why television cop shows can never tell the "truth" about policing. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 57 (3). 87 - 106. ISSN 0021-8510

Text (Thief-takers and rule-breakers Why television cop shows can never tell the ‘truth’ about policing) - Accepted Version Pending embargo until 1 October 2204. Download (437kB)

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Abstract

For many people, the media is the main source of their knowledge and understanding about policing and crime. As a result, a common thread running through content analysis of television police shows is the gap between the "reality"of police work, crime, criminals, and the justice system and the picture painted by media representations. I argue, however, that all representations of social reality are partial and that commercial imperatives, working processes, ideological frames of the makers, and format of individual shows shape and constrain the stories told. Given that police shows can never be totally authentic, I argue that scholars should be exploring the symbolic value of these shows, the types of discourse produced, and whether such shows habituate viewers into ways of thinking about crime and punishment that may be excessively simplified.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jae
Additional Information:	© 2023 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Divisions:	Mannheim Centre for Criminology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Date Deposited:	21 May 2024 09:21
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 04:17
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/123541

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